Harvest Moon: Desolate Valley
by The Happiness
Summary: Anna has rung the five bells and restored peace and quality to the island. But, three years later, are things still so peaceful? What happens when the bells aren't the problem? Can Anna possibly save the island again? Main Character x ...
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, or this game (Even though I have a copy of it. ;) )

Forgive me, if it seems a little amateur, short, and strange, but there is much more to come I assure you.

---

It had been three long years since Anna had rung the last bell. For three years, the island was complete paradise. Harmonica town had prospered, the fish had multiplied to record numbers, the water was lively and cooperative. The wind blew through, giving new energy to all, and the heartbeat of the land beat so clearly that if you put your ear to the ground, you could've heard it yourself. For three long years, the island had been complete paradise... through and through. But little did they all know, that something was about to happen... something that would be too big for even their new heroine to handle.

There were only two things that Anna hadn't accomplished on this fair island, and that was to obtain a family and to swim all the way to Toucan Island by herself. And one of those things she was planning to do right about...

"Anna! What are you doing!??!??!?!?"

Anna turned around, her diving stance interrupted as she looked up to two figures coming ever closer to her on the dock. It was a nice, sunny day on the island, in fact... a little too sunny. She had a feeling that Ben had been put in charge again. Anna let out a large breath of air and wiped off her forehead, readjusting her bright yellow two piece swimming suit as the two figures came running face to face with each other.

But, it seemed to take forever. They looked like they were having a two man fight along the way. One would trip the other, and then the fallen one would drag the other down. The one on the left used the one on the right to propel himself forward, but the other one caught onto his hand and pulled the trick again.

But there was only so much dock to get past... and they both were slowing down now. Finally, their faces became utterly clear, if not just a little dirt smudged. Both of them nearly collapsed in front of Anna, her short brown hair and warm brown eyes looking down at them. But, the victor, or at least, the one who managed to get up first was a blonde headed boy with piercing blue eyes, his usually neat appearance was completely undone, his hair all over the place and his vest ripped in a couple places, although Anna doubted that he didn't have at least ten more in his closet.

"Anna!" Gill took a couple deep breaths and went on. "I re-"  
"Wait!" Said the other boy, finally standing up.

The other boy ruffled his medium length orange hair and turned his deep, violet eyes onto Anna's, still sweating from his obvious little run in.

"I need to say something." Chase said, wiping off his apron and reaching into his pocket.  
"H-hey!" Gill said, blocking Chase's hand, "I got up first, let me say what I need to say!"  
Anna looked back and forth at the two, surprised, but not completely naive for what was happening. Both Luna and Maya had been pissed at her... and come to think of it...

Anna spaced out as the two of them argued it out.

"I hate you Anna!" "Yeah me too!" "Keep your filthy hands away from my man you whore!" "Just go away!"

There stood Anissa, Maya, Luna, Renee, Cathy, Selena, and the most surprising of all, Candace, who seemed to be agreeing with them all completely. The rest of the girls soon followed their lead, yelling out insults that surprised Anna.

"W-what!?" Anna exclaimed, "What did I do? I've been so nice to every one of you I-"  
"Oh shut up!" said Maya, coming to the front of the crowd, "You've been so nice, putting on this little act. Now we can see what you've been after all along!"  
Anna, still confused, was standing in shock, at a loss for words.  
"But... but what..?"  
"Zip it, tramp." Selena said, looking as mad as hell, like a flaming tiger, ready to pounce. "Luke can't seem to talk about anything anymore. He's either daydreaming, or talking about you! I can't believe I was ever led to believe that you were my friend."  
"Yeah!" An outraged Luna came pushing through the crowd of taller girls, looking like a feral child. "Gill dumped me! And you know what he said? He said that he finally had a chance to be with the one he had _really_ wanted. And you made Candace cry! Julius refused to even give her a passing nod after that little run-in with you."  
Anna, still at a loss for words looked back at the angry crowd of girls, still backing up. What had gotten into them all? She could see that it was about the guys, but what in the heck did it have to do with her? She hadn't done anything! Nothing...  
Finally, Maya made herself apparent.  
"I finally had a chance." Maya said, "You were my best friend. I told you _everything_. I told you about how much I liked Chase. I told you how he was rude to me, and finally, I told you when he was finally warming up to me. I told you that he had actually given me a cake on Thanksgiving... but I didn't think you'd take advantage of me this way!" Maya exclaimed.

The crowd seemed to bubble with anger, the glares on each one of the girls getting darker and more sinister as Anna backed up, reaching for something, anything.

"But, I didn't do anything!" Anna exclaimed. This had to be a bad dream, a horrible dream... a nightmare even! But alas, her senses were sure as the night was darker than the day that she was awake. "I haven't done anything!"

"You took all of them from us!" An outraged Anissa said from somewhere in the crowd, "You must've flirted day and night to get them away from us! Heck, you probably slept with most of them! You little slut. Tell us why we shouldn't tear you to pieces, right now!"

"I haven't slept with any of them! And I haven't flirted, even if they tried to flirt with me!" Anna yelled out, truthfully.

But alas, none of the girls believed her. Anna ran, as fast as she could.

"You can run! But you can't hide! We sent all of the men to the city today, so don't even try to run to your boy toys!" Somebody exclaimed, which sent an even deeper panic into her. Even if she hadn't tried to flirt with them, they were probably the only people who could protect her.

Running as fast as she could, she tried every building, but they were all locked... except for the Brass Bar. Anna ran inside quickly, the girls not as in shape as the rancher was. She was breathing deeply and finally ran into the back room, trying every door, coming into the only one that was unlocked, the last one.

Anna closed the door behind her as she faced the door and listened for noise.. any noise. She swore her senses were alive and awake. She could have been superhuman with these heightened senses. Or at least, she thought so. It was quite a shock, and disappointment when Anna was tapped on the shoulder.

Anna turned around quickly with widened eyes to see Chase looking down into her eyes, trying to read them. But, after she was done, her face turned bright red as she noticed that every guy in town was inside of the room, looking at her strangely. It was so embarrassing... But, after a moment, even her face calmed down as she noticed the guys aforementioned. "Luke, Gill, Julius, Chase... all of them." She looked back and forth at them all, smiles appearing on their faces.

Anna relaxed, but then blinked.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the.." Anna said, but she looked at all of the guys and they started laughing to themselves.

"They tried to send us on a spa trip." Luke said with a joking laugh.

Julius smirked and brushed his hair out of his face. "Come on. Even I don't like spas. I may look feminine, but I am a man you know. A day of relaxation in a steam room isn't really for any of us."

Gill was leaning in the corner. "I did some investigating too. They had booked all male massage therapists."

At this, all of the men shuddered, with a small 'ugh' sound before Jin piped up.

"Besides, spas are proven to be bad for your health. If you spend too long in there, you could faint, and if nobody found you, you could die."

"Yeah, after about 48 hours." Owen snickered, Toby laughing to himself in the corner.

But then, Toby turned to Anna. "Oh... why are you here?"

On this note, they all turned to her, curious. Anna blinked. What was she supposed to say? All of their girlfriends had overreacted and blamed all of their sudden boy troubles on her, sending them into a mad rage which automatically ended up on her walking in on their little hiding spot?

"Wow, that's tough." The Wizard said.

Anna blinked and face palmed. She hadn't even noticed the wizard in the corner. And it was even worse now because he had apparently broad casted the whole entire thought into all of the guys' minds.

"Well... any ideas?"

Anna was awakened with a start by the sound of splashing. Anna's mouth gaped open as she saw both Gill and Chase.. neither of which actually knew how to swim, falling into the sea.

Anna didn't think about what happened next. All she did was scream... that was it. All it took was a scream. The earth started to shake violently, and Anna dived into the water, grabbing both of the boys by the hand and taking them up to the dock. Anna pushed herself up and pulled them both up, all three of them clinging to each other for dear life as a lightning strike shot across the sky. Gill and Chase were speechless, and Anna was in panic. What was happening?

The wind shot through the hair, almost blowing everybody over who was actually standing up. The fire in the forge and in the kitchens everywhere flared up, exploding the ovens and sending pebbles everywhere. The rain started falling out of spontaneous rainclouds, hitting everything it touched so hard that there were welts. The rain soon turned into hail, easily damaging all that was left outside.

And worst of all, Anna could feel it stop.

---

Well, that's it for the first chapter. :D I hope to write more soon! Cause I really like where this one is going.


	2. A Day to Remember

Wheee!

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, or the game. (But the storyline is mine! Ahahahahahaha!)

Here you go! ;) A little something for all you people who had to wait so long. D;

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Anna felt like she couldn't breathe. She had felt it stop, the entire heartbeat of the land had stopped. Did it have to do with the Goddess? Something had to be wrong. But, all the bells had been rung, and it had only been three short years. Anna had her eyes closed shut tightly as Chase and Gill looked around frantically.

After a couple of minutes of frantic thoughts and pure destruction, it all stopped. The ground stopped moving, the rain and the fire had stopped. The wind had died down completely. Anna stood up along with Gill and Chase and turned around, smelling nothing but smoke.

It was terrible. As the smoke cleared, Anna was surprised that the dock was still in tact. Anna stepped forward into the ruin of what was once a beautiful town. Every pathway was smoky and broken. Anna saw the orange tabby cat run up to the top of the Wizard's house and heard it mewl a horrible, sorrowful sound. It fit everything perfectly. Anna's eyes filled with tears. Everything was ruined... everything.

There were holes in buildings, and no window had been left in tact. Everybody was emerging from their buildings to look at the damage. There was nothing... nothing that had been untouched. Anna looked back to Gill and Chase, the looks on their faces heartbreaking in themselves.

Gill's eyes were filled with tears as he saw his house, fallen to the ground and smashed like a pancake, as though a huge boulder had fallen onto it. And Chase stood solemnly, looking at the bar. It was as if he had shut himself from the world.

Anna took off running towards her home, both of the boys that had been fighting over her seemingly frozen in place.

Anna ran through the town, running around people and scattering this way and that way. She had to get home, she had to get home. Were all of her animals okay? They had to be. And her pets! Her crops that she had worked so hard to grow, so much care. Anna ran as fast as she could, towards her home. It all had to be okay, it had to be, right? She had been so good to everybody, and to the goddess, surely her house had been protected? Insured at least?

Anna ran into her farmland and skidded to a stop. It had been the young farmer with the largest loss of all.

Anna dropped to her knees, devastated. All of the three fields had been completely demolished. The plants had been torn from the ground, not a one of them, not even her beautiful trees had survived. Everything had been uprooted. The barn's roof was in the bottom, and the coop had gone halfway missing, an array of blood and feathers staining the side of the barn that the coop had been on. And if that weren't enough, Anna's eyes turned to her house, and she wailed.

Her house was even worse off than it had been in when she'd got it. There was a huge boulder that had crushed the side with the kitchen. Anna was afraid to go inside... but she had to see if she could revive anything.

Anna stepped into the wide, gaping hole in her house and looked around, the dim light in the sky all she had to see around.

"Hello..?" Anna whispered, her whole house a mess, "Matilda... Horace... Kasey..." Anna's voice was but a hoarse whisper as she rooted through the chaos that was now her home. Anna found her tool box and put what remained of her tools in her rucksack before calling out for her pets once more.

Anna's head turned as she heard a rustling noise under the collapsed bed. She hurriedly moved the bed and a baby bear, otherwise known as Horace, moved over to her side, bleeding. Next came the baby boar, Matilda, who hadn't had but a scratch. But, when Anna looked over to the rock, she wailed. Kasey's large, white paw was sticking out from under the rock. Anna crawled over to the paw and with tears in her eyes finally started full blown crying.

Anna had lost everything she'd worked for, and she still didn't know why. She did know one thing. She wasn't going to get anything back to the way it used to be... at least, not easily. She remembered when she had come here, as a girl with a dream. And now... she was just a rancher who had lost everything that the girl had once dreamed of having. But... this reminded her of the memory... that she had been remembering.

---

"Well... we could... ya know... do an act?" Luke pointed out.  
Anna was dumbfounded. An act? Is that what he was proposing? How would an act fix anything?  
"Well... that could work." The wizard said, "If everybody shunned Anna in front of their girlfriends, or got into a small spat with her once in awhile just for publicity, I'm sure that the girls would be satisfied."  
"Hey, Luke actually had a smart idea." Owen teased, everybody, including Anna laughing. The room was in a considerably lighter mood seeing that Anna was happier now. In fact, everybody was happier now. Above anything she could be, Anna was their friend above all.

Over the next few seasons, the guys had shunned and spat at Anna, much to the satisfaction of their girlfriends. But, they always winked at her afterwards, and even if Anna came out of the building feeling like hell, especially with Gill and Chase even though they went considerably lighter on her than the others, she knew that in the end, they were only protecting her.

She never remembered Gill or Chase having anything else to do with Maya and Luna though...

---

Anna snapped back to reality and stood up, saying a small blessing to Kasey, the Pyrenees, and turning towards her door. She thought she saw a dark figure, but after blinking it had disappeared.

---

Anna had spent the rest of the night cleaning up things at the farm before heading into town and heading into the Brass Bar, which was still open. Funny thing was, Anna had always carried her money with her, but tonight, she didn't feel like drinking. These were good nights, the nights when only she and Chase and Gill could chat with each other. But, upon arrival, she saw that things were no longer going to be so... good.

Anna stepped into the bar and took her usual seat. She was silent for about five minutes before Chase and Gill both took their seats next to her. She didn't know what to do... or what to say. There was nothing to say... she was speechless. She had spent the day cleaning up what had been left of her chickens and livestock, blood and all. She had managed to clean up her fields, and give a burial service for all of her dead and missing animals.

"So.." Anna said, lightly.  
"So.." Gill and Chase said at the same time. She didn't know what to say... but she decided to start with the dock.  
"So.. what was it.. that you guys needed to say?" Anna questioned, looking to the two.

The two of them looked at Anna, shocked, as if they'd been in a trance and forgotten the whole ideal. She was betting that they had. But, as soon as she mentioned it, the fire came back into the two's eyes. They both hopped off of their stools and walked behind her. Anna turned around and looked from guy to guy. Gill looked nervous, but Chase looked questioning.

"Wait... is there... something wrong?" Anna questioned.

"Luna wants to marry me."  
"Maya wants to marry me."

Anna was shocked. They'd said it at the same time. Was everything going wrong today? Yeah... she'd pretty much lost everything, and now two of her best friends were going to be taken away? No... no..!

"NO!" Anna yelled aloud, before covering her mouth. She shook her head lightly, tears falling down her dirty face.

The two looked at her, a mixture of emotions from happiness to scorn to apathy to concern appearing on their faces.

"So... you don't want me to marry Luna..?" Gill questioned. Anna shook her head, a sure sign that the statement was true.

"And... you don't want me to marry Maya?" Chase pushed. Again, Anna shook her head.

The two looked at each other, scratching their heads. They didn't know what to say. But, Anna piped up, trying to disguise the tears to no avail.

"I know it's selfish... but I love you both so much. You guys are the only real friends I have... they only real people I can talk to. I really know you guys. And as soon as you get married, you'll forget about me. You'll break my heart.. even though I've lost almost everything.. I can't lose you guys too." Anna finished, hopping off of her stool and hugging both of the guys at the same time. "If anything happened to either one of you, I'd die. I can't stand the thought of you guys so happy... with... someone else."

Anna didn't know what to say, but she felt herself being hugged back by both of the guys.

"Okay... I understand." Chase said into Anna's hair.

"Yeah.. I know what you mean." Gill said, the two of the boys cradling Anna in their arms as they glared daggers at each other.

Anna backed up and the boys returned their attention to her, their eyes caring and loving towards her as she looked up at them the same way. After that, Anna had retrieved her animals and headed to the church, were most of the village was sleeping that night, due to damaged houses.

It would be a long way to recovery, especially for Anna. Because she had the hardest job of all. One that would result in almost certain demise...

And as she lay between Gill & Chase in the church, her eyes closed shut, her mind drifting away to better places as a dark force made its way through Harmonica Town...

---

Evil forces are on the loose! Ruuuuuuun!  
Well, that's it for now. Next chapter up soon, and hopefully it's less confusing and a little better than this one was. ^^'  
Constructive criticism is always welcome. :3 Comment please.


	3. The Boar, The Wizard, and The Closet

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon. I do not own these characters. I do not own Chase, although I wish I did. 3

Alright, here's #3~ Enjoy, and don't forget to comment. Am I going to slow? Is the story going to fast? Well, hopefully it's just perfect. XD But we all know it isn't so tell me anyway.

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Anna woke up to a light streaming onto her face from the church window, the blue pattern transferring onto her face even as she sat up and looked around. It didn't take her long to remember everything that had happened yesterday. No, it was hard to forget such a thing, if you hadn't already tried to get it completely. But, as she stood up and looked at the villagers faces, it was easy to tell that they all remembered the loss. Everybody, from Chloe to Irene, to Ozzie and even Mayor Hamilton, with closed eyes had a look of unmistakable pain, sorrow, and longing on their faces. Anna had never seen a look like this... on anybody.

It was right then and there that she vowed to make everything better, for these people, if not for anything else.

Anna exited the church silently, leaving everybody where they lay and tiptoeing silently out the door of the church, the door giving only a small creak as she left. As soon as she reached the outside of the church, she looked around at the destruction. Not even the church had been completely safe. It was as if the goddess had stopped watching altogether. But... that was impossible. She knew the goddess, there was nothing more in this town she loved more than the church. But...

"No, don't be silly. You just need to go up and check is all. Yeah... she'll be there.." Anna spoke to herself lightly and managed to pull a berry out of her pocket, before deciding against it and heading down to the mine cart.

Anna stepped up to the cliff, marveling at the lack of damage there had been. But... the mine cart was... well... missing. It was nowhere to be found.

"I guess it's time to hike." Anna said lightly. Upon stepping on the first plank, she heard a squeal behind her. Anna turned around and blinked, smiling as Matilda came up to her. "Aww, you wanna come with?" Anna questioned to the baby boar. She wondered where Horace had gone... He would've found a way to his Mom... hopefully. Hopefully she was still alive. She already knew of twenty that hadn't survived..

Anna picked up the baby boar and started up the mine shaft as it creaked dangerously. But, since she doubted that the bridge had survived the horrible chain of events, she kept going.

"Woah..." Anna said, about halfway up the mineshaft as she headed out into the light, "It's... kinda creepy." Matilda squealed in agreement with what seemed to be a nod of the head before they headed up, making a few couple jumps and leaps before they made it to the top, safely. Anna smiled and Matilda jumped down from her arms before exploring the area.

It was a complete mess. The Blacksmith's had been halfway burnt down, and it still smelt smoky from all of the fire. There were beautiful fragments of jewels scattered everywhere, so sharp that they could easily cut through bare feet. She remembered that everybody had made it to the church... but she never remembered seeing Bo. Didn't Perry say that everyone had made it? Anna strained to remember... but she had been so tired that she couldn't even remember who was missing.

Anna looked around again before whistling for Matilda and heading back towards the Goddess Spring. There were many obstacles that she already saw blocking her way... but nothing that she couldn't manage. Climbing logs had been something she'd known how to do for a long time now. It had taken some practice, especially seeing that they were wet and covered in moss, but she had managed to make it over, with Matilda in arms.

It was only a matter of time now, that she'd come to the tree and see what was wrong with it. Anna smiled, looking up to the sky. It was only noon... she had made good time. Her feet crunched over what was left of the rock path towards the tree, and she waded through the unusually calm ravine before climbing up and walking up to the tree.

Anna watched, dumbfounded as she walked up to the tree. There it was, in all of its glory, not a leaf out of place. It was utterly perfect.. All six Harvest Sprites waved to Anna, bidding her welcome into the circular area surrounding the beautiful tree. It was so amazing, and it was untouched. But worst of all, the goddess looked happier than ever to see her.

"Darling! Welcome to the Harvest Tree. What brings you here?" The Goddess questioned.

Anna stood, as if she'd just been struck. There was something very wrong with this picture. The whole entire island had gone into chaos, and she was asking what brought the brave rancher to the base of her beautiful tree. Anna was at a complete loss for words... or so she thought.

"What!? Haven't you seen what's going on down there!? It's all gone! All of it!" Anna exclaimed.

The goddess put a finger to her lips and thought for a minute. "Hmm... well, that is quite a predicament."

Anna just blinked. Quite a predicament? They'd just lost everything. "Yeah yeah, quite a predicament, we need to fix it. The island is even worse off than when I had gotten here the first time!" Anna said, "I worked so hard to fix it, and let me tell you, I didn't go through all of that to watch it fall apart."

The Goddess laughed lightly at Anna's outburst. "Dear, Calm down, calm down. I am a Goddess. But, I'm only the Goddess of the land. Something has gone wrong that's over my control. According to my rules, the land is just how it should be. The tree is growing, and the bells are rung."

"B-b-but that's impossible! The elements flared up and then died down! It was like the land had a heart attack. Something had to go wrong! You have to be able to fix it, you just have to!" Anna said. She was on the verge of begging. There had to be something the Goddess could do. But alas, when the beautiful woman shook her head, there was only one answer.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do." The Goddess said, shaking her head, "I've never seen anything like this. The legends don't say anything about this happening.. but I'm sure if you talk to Mayor Hamilton, he could have a good idea. The man has surprised even me many a time."

Anna shook her head lightly. What could Mayor Hamilton, a short, balding, white haired man with the silliest ideas the world have ever known, do for her? He knew a lot about the town, but if the Goddess didn't know anything, what could Mayor Hamilton possibly know?

"You've upset the balance of things."

"Wha...?"

Anna stood in Mayor Hamilton's office, feeling like a fool for actually coming here and listening to the old man's hypothesis. She knew he was Gill's father, but that didn't help his case any. In the past years, Mayor Hamilton had become a bit... well... cuckoo. The man straightened his old blue coat and hopped out of his chair, seeming even smaller than he had been before as he sat across from her.

"You've upset the balance of things." Mayor Hamilton put, in a matter of fact tone.

"Bu-"  
"Hush!" Mayor Hamilton said, interrupting the young girl. "Here's my theory. You rang the bells three years ago. So, you were the one who restored the heartbeat to the land." Mayor Hamilton paused, as if to check if her eyes had glazed over yet or not.

"So...?" Anna questioned. He did have a point, but how it connected to her she could never know.

"So! When it heard you scream, the sense of imbalance in your mental frame of mind set a sense of imbalance in all of the bells, making them flare and then stop completely." Mayor Hamilton pushed his glasses onto his face and started pacing around the room. "Yes, yes! It makes perfect sense now!"

"Hold on a minute, Hammy." Anna said lightly, making the mayor stop, "There's only one problem. The bells are controlled by their Harvest Sprites, and only the Harvest Sprites, and I only screamed in surprise." Anna said with a small shrug. "If it was mental imbalance, than there could have been hundreds of times in the past three years that this would've happened."

Mayor Hamilton stopped and scratched his head. "I never thought about that.."

"Nice try, but I th-"

"How about this then!" Mayor Hamilton said, cutting the girl off again. Anna sighed and opened her mind to another radical idea that was about to come her way. "Maybe somebody wants to get rid of you."

This caused Anna's ears to perk up, and she looked at Mayor Hamilton more seriously. With that reaction, he continued with his crazy hypothesis. "Somebody wants to get rid of you, and was willing to do anything to do it. So they got a book of summons from my library and tried to sick a ghost on you. The book is missing you know, I haven't been able to find i-"

"You mean this book of summons...?" Anna questioned, holding out a book that she had just pulled off of Hamilton's desk.

Hamilton blinked a few times and cleared his throat. "Yes! That one! They could have just slipped it onto my desk and-"

"I think you read it and forgot about it." Anna said with a helpful smile.

Defeated, Hamilton dropped the theory and sighed, telling her to put the book back on his desk.

"Why do you have something like that, couldn't that be dangerous?" Anna questioned. If anybody could use it wisely it was the Mayor, but with his current state of mind she was kind of worried.

"I tried to summon my wife back, years ago. But I don't think I did it right." Hamilton sighed, "For some reason all I got was an apple on the floor."

Anna got up and patted his shoulder. "I can give this to the wizard, if you'd like. He'd keep it safe." Anna said with a smile. Hamilton nodded lightly and Anna grasped its cover tightly. "Alright, I'll see ya later Mayor Hamilton!"

Mayor Hamilton sat back down at his desk and sighed lightly before looking around. "Huh. What was I doing again?"

Anna made her way up the street to the Wizard's house, which had miraculously been repaired. But, she didn't doubt that it would be, he was a wizard, after all. Anna walked inside of the house, not surprised that it seemed unchanged. But, the Wizard looked pretty tired. She guessed it took a lot of effort out of him to do this. Anna walked over to the Wizard and slipped him the book with a smile.

"I believe Mayor Hamilton borrowed this from you." Anna said with a smile. The Wizard looked at the book cover and laughed lightly, an enchanting laugh.

"No, just the cover. I knew nothing good would come out of him having the whole thing." The Wizard explained.

Anna stood, laughing lightly. Well, she knew where she was going to get potentially dangerous items. The Wizard was a tricky fellow, not to mention dashing. He could distract anybody, which was amazing in itself. And she knew firsthand what he could do. She knew that the Witch was still mad at him, even though he had turned her back into a human when she had been a frog. But, he was always sweet, and he always understood, even though he rarely let on that he did.

"Really? No wonder he said all he got was an apple." Anna said lightly. But, in the back of her mind she knew that Mayor Hamilton was hurting. She was glad that he didn't have to hurt much more after this ordeal. You could never bring your wife back, but his son had been safe.

"Now, will you go find Bo for me?" The Wizard questioned abruptly after laughing.

Anna was sort of surprised at the question... Bo and the Wizard hadn't spoken a day in their lives to each other, she was sure. And yet... he wanted her to find him? "Uh... sure." Anna agreed lightly, "Where is he?"

The Wizard's eyes looked down into his crystal ball and glowed, a beautiful color that she couldn't even describe. His hair started to move ever so lightly and then, as soon as it started, it was over. And somehow, the day had whisked by, already six o clock when she'd come into his house at four.

"Twenty Sixth level of the Watery Cave."

---

Abrupt stop! Muahahahaha. 3 So, I'll have number four up soon. :3 Have a wonderful day.


	4. Pandas & Banana Ice Cream

Disclaimer: I don't own it! Ha!

But the storyline is all mine. 3

Enjoy you guys! D: I went through nagging, a lot of it to put this up for you. R&R Please & Thanks

* * *

Anna blinked lightly.

"Twenty... seventh... level..." Anna said, her eye twitching lightly, "Alright, I'll go get him. Do I need to escort him here?"

"No need." The Wizard said, as mysterious as ever.

Anna sighed lightly and smiled. "I'm on it! In fact, I'll go get him right now!" Anna said. If he was at the twenty-seventh level, he would probably hungry... and cold... Did Bo ever go to the mines at all?

Anna hurried out of the Wizard's house and descended the stairs, or what was left of them before looking around and climbing over countless rocks to get into the cavern. Anna got inside and looked around, noting that things looked a bit... different. The blue bell was still in tact... at least she had that going for her.

Anna walked to the entrance of the mine, but, something stopped her. Anna turned around and walked to the bell. Something was... different about the bell. Anna walked even closer, until her foot was at the base. Anna reached out lightly and ever so slightly touched the bell.

Anna's vision instantly turned red, and she almost blacked out from the pain. It was like a bolt of lightning had made its way through her body. She screamed aloud and her heart pumped fiercely as she scrambled backwards from it as fast as she could. She breathed heavily for a couple moments before clutching her hand over her heart to calm down.

Anna finally stood up after five minutes of recovery, her legs feeling like jello as she finally descended the stairs to the Watery Cave Mines.

Surprisingly, descending twenty seven levels of stairs isn't that hard when that's all you're doing. She passed a couple of pearls, and even a black pearl, but really, did you need that sort of thing when you were on a rescue mission? Okay, so money was always good, but right now, the town needed help, and she was bound to fix the underlying problem before helping rebuild.

At last, Anna had reached the twenty seventh floor. And she had to admit, it felt kind of creepy.

"Hello...?" Anna questioned, "Bo?"

Anna listened, but there was no answer. Anna sighed lightly and put her palm to her forehead. "This is one cruel joke Wizard." Anna said to herself before catching a glimpse of he fingertip. Anna blinked and looked at it peculiarly. Right where she had touched the blue bell, a small pattern that looked like a wave had engraved itself on her finger. She had to think that the shock had been no ordinary matter. But then again, what about harvest sprites and magical bells was in any way ordinary?

Anna shook her head before she heard a small cough on the other side of the level of the mine. "Bo!" Anna called out, carefully running over to the other side. There, in the corner, was a worn looking Bo.

"Ugh..." Bo said hoarsely, "What happened?"

Anna put her hand over her heart and calmed herself down before looking over Bo.

"I'll explain everything later, I just need to get you back to safety, alright? I don't know how stable these mines are past this level. They probably aren't stable at all, so let's go back to the church." Anna explained.

"Water.." Bo coughed lightly.

Anna looked at him, blinking lightly. She never carried water. In fact, she didn't have anything to drink at the moment. Suddenly, her fingertip caught her attention again.

"Water..." Anna said lightly. Anna looked at her fingertip and then back at Bo. She held her hand out to him and brought him up, his form fragile and shaky. "Come on.. the sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can have water." Anna said.

And as they made their way out of the twenty-seven levels of the watery cave mines, Anna couldn't help but notice that the bell still looked sinister as they made their way out.

---

Anna had successfully delivered Bo to the Church, which happened to be housing Dr. Jin, not to mention Irene, both of whom helped on Bo's now certain trip to recovery. She dreaded the thought of what could've happened to him if he'd been left there for a couple more days.

"Aren't you thirsty Bo? You've been down there for a long time." Jin asked Bo. But Bo just shook his head. "No, actually... for some reason... I was really thirsty, and then I was fine! It was like the longer I stayed with Anna, trying to get to the top, the more strength I got." Bo assured.

Anna wasn't really paying attention. She looked out of the stained glass window of the church, the distorted image bringing a memory... an earlier memory into play. One so early, she had almost forgotten it had existed...

---

"Momma! Momma! Look at the Panda!" Anna cried out, pointing joyously to the rather large creature in the exhibit at the Zoo. "It's so big!"

Anna, a very young one, clad in a little sunny outfit, was so excited to be here, at this... zoo. It was amazing to see all of the creatures and critters. There was everything from Giraffes and Panda Bears, to Brown Bears and Lynx Cats. She knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. She wanted to look after all of the animals! They were all so fuzzy and cute, she would keep them all as pets!

"Now Honey, don't stick your fingers in the cage." Anna's mother warned lightly.

"But Momma! They won't hurt me! They're so cute and cuddly!" Anna exclaimed, "Can I pet it? Please! I wanna pet it!"

"How about some Ice Cream instead sweetie?" Anna's mother asked with a smile. The old ice cream trick... it had always worked when her mother needed an excuse to get away from a topic. Anna had always loved ice cream...

"Yum! I want Banana Ice Cream!" Anna exclaimed.

"Alright sweetie. You wait right here, and I'll go get you some ice cream." Anna's mother laughed lightly.

Anna nodded lightly and turned back to the Pandas. She smiled and smiled and smiled and watched, thinking about ice cream the entire time, and then back to the pandas. And then ice cream, and then pandas.. and ice cream... and pandas... and pandas... and ice cream and then...

"Momma?" Anna questioned. She had said wait, but did she really mean for this long? "Momma...?" Anna called out again. There was nobody around her... and the sun was getting even lower in the sky. Her brown eyes filled to the brim, looking around. The Ice Cream stand was right across the way...

Anna ran over on five year old legs to get to the ice cream vendor. "'Scuse me!" Anna called out to the younger looking woman, "Have you seen my Momma?"

"Hey, Kid. You're not supposed to be here."

"Huh?" Anna questioned, "But... I came to the zoo, with my Momma..." Anna stopped. "She's tall, and she's got brown eyes, like me! And she was wearing a yellow dress, like me! And she said she was gonna get me some Banana Ice Cream..."

The vendor looked at her like she was stupid. But she didn't know that.

"Did you see her...?" Anna questioned.

Suddenly, a policeman came up from behind her.

"Is your name Anna?" The policeman said.

Anna turned around, and instantly shrunk back. "Y-y-yeah." Anna managed to muster.

"Come with me."

---

Anna was awaken from her daydream when she felt an arm drape around her shoulder. Anna looked over to see Gill sitting beside her with a smile.

"Hey, I heard you saved Bo. You look a little tired... are you alright?" Gill asked.

Anna sighed lightly and looked at him with a smile, "Yeah. But it's been a pretty long day. I wonder... what Bo was doing in the Mine though..."

"Oh that?" A new voice piped in. Chase took a seat on the other side of Anna and smiled. "Didn't you hear? Dale had asked him to find a black pearl to be inserted into a new piece of furniture. He was going to engrave it with something special and give it as a special order and whatnot." Chase explained.

Anna smiled weakly in his direction before Gill spoke up.

"Oh really? Isn't a black pearl always found on the twenty fifth level? He couldn't have passed it that easily." Gill said, apparent tenseness in the air.

"Well, there was an earthquake, the ground could've crumbled beneath his feet." Chase pointed out, "Who knows how far he fell? He could've just been on level two when it happened." Chase said.

"Well then his legs would be broken you idiot." Gill said with a small glare. The look was returned by Chase and Anna laughed nervously.

"Guys, guys, can't you two get along? We all have to live together after all. I don't like it when you guys fight." Anna said lightly before standing. "I'm going to go to bed."

And so, Anna went to sleep, another day under her belt. But what lie tomorrow was much, much worse. As she peacefully dreamed of her home and the way it used to be, the dark force crept ever closer to the church, ever closer to its target.

* * *

Alright, this is it for tonight. I love you all! 3


	5. Permanent Winter

AHHHHH! I forgot to put a disclaimer! T___T I know that it's not really all important since I've put them up before but OHMIGOSHICAN'TBELIEVEIACTUALLYFORGOT!!!!!!!?!??!?!?!?!?

It's okay. :3 Cause they already know I don't own the characters, or the landscaping. The underlying story is mine though, it came from my own IMAGINATION! Try to take that from me will ya!

That's right! You can't. 3

---

It was so cold...

And it was... snowy.

Yes... that was it. There were little flakes hitting her face, but she couldn't register anything. There was no sound, in this place. No feeling.. just sight. It was... an older time. So much older. There was nobody in sight, but she thought she recognized an early version of the Garmon mine area. Yes... it was definitely an early version... But... the only thing that stood there was a joint Blacksmith/Carpenter shop.

'How long ago was this...?' Anna thought to herself as her vision was directed to the Goddess Springs Area.

There was no path, but there was no mistaking that there was something there. Anna's vision seemed to be stepping forward, towards the grouping of trees that blocked the Goddess Springs. She watched as the body squeezed through the trees and looked around at the purely simple beauty of the area. And that's when she saw it.

There was a small, empty field in front of her. This place hadn't been touched, by anything or anyone. 'Where's the tree!?' Anna questioned aloud to herself, 'There's no way the land looks this good without the tree!'

It was true, wasn't it? She knew that the Harvest Goddess had begged the Harvest God somewhere along the ropes to save the land... but... it must've been before then..

Anna's vision suddenly turned around to rest on a figure of a young looking Harvest God. His fiery orange/red hair said it all. He stepped towards Anna's body and she suddenly became aware that she was stepping towards him as well.

"Ignis." A voice said. Anna looked around, and realized that the voice had come from her own being. _'Ignis...?'_

"Saralee." The Harvest God replied to her. Anna's eyes shot open. Did he... did he know this woman? The God in all his glory came up to her body, and promptly kissed her on the lips. She felt it, the passion, the butterflies, the secrecy...

Her body pulled away from the arms of the Harvest God and looked into his caring eyes. He cared for this woman, on a level deeper than any friendship, any relationship that the Harvest God could have ever had with a mere human...

"Ignis... the land... it's.."

"I know. It's becoming a permanent winter."

Anna's eyes widened, as well as her body's. 'Permanent... Winter?' Anna thought about it. And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. In winter, all nature was put on hold. The crops couldn't grow, and the trees stopped growing. The fish retreated to the bottom of the ocean, and the ones that didn't... The wind was either too strong or nonexistent altogether. In short... nobody could've lived there any longer.

"Ignis... can't you fix this..?" Her body asked, from the heart. She saw her vision fill with tears. "My love... if you can't fix this... I cannot survive here. I'll have to leave you... along with everyone else."

Anna's mind was reeling. Permanent winter. How long had it been winter? What season was it? Who was Saralee!? She didn't sound like the Goddess... the books all said that the Goddess had begged for the land to be returned the way it was... Something here wasn't right.

"I cannot fix this... in your lifetime." Ignis said, his eyes downcast.

Finally, her vision filled completely and her body ran from the scene, leaving a trail of tears until she made it to a small stream behind the Carpenter's shop. The tears fell for awhile, before her vision cleared, and looked straight down into the reflection of the water...

---

Anna woke up, awakened by a startled scream. She stood up immediately, and the lights were turned on by Perry. There was Anissa, in the center of the room, standing blankly. Her blank eyes were frozen, as if surprised, but holding no emotion. She only stood, as if she'd been frozen in time altogether. Everybody was waking up now, witnessing what lay before them.

Anissa, in her position, slowly relaxed, and turned as slowly as a snail towards Anna, standing in the corner of the room. She lifted her hand lightly, and then pointed full out, straight at her. Everyone's gaze turned towards her and back towards Anissa in confusion.

And then, her mouth opened. Anissa's jaw creaked, and a voice that seemed a thousand years old emerged from the being, sinister, and timeless.

"You have brought a Permanent Winter upon us all, once more." The voice creaked, before continuing, "You have sinned not once, not twice, not three times, but four times, and many times more. You have awakened the beast that lie sleeping. You have put us all in danger, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times, and many times more. We want to rest. Permanent Winter... we cannot escape. If you do not fix it this time, we shall remain frozen in time, for an eternity. And you shall pay the price!"

Anna was frozen in place, not only in shock, but in fear. She knew that the land had already gone into permanent winter long ago...

As soon as the speech was finished, Anissa stopped, looked around at all of them, seeming to arise something of a gleam in their eyes. There was something... something much deeper than an affair. Something that had to do with Anissa.. no.. not just Anissa. With everybody here. They all looked at Anissa silently before watching, as seemingly shocked as Anna was as she lay back where she had been and went to sleep.

Anna didn't know what to say, or what to do. What did any of this have to do with her? She was the rookie rancher! She had only moved here three years ago. None of the history books had mentioned anything about this. She had a feeling that history itself was going to be redefined. She had so much to figure out... but before she could find out what it all meant, she had to fix it first. The bells had worked the first time, and they had to have worked the second time. But...

"Ignis..." Anna said aloud.

"What was that?" Chase and Gill asked at the same time.

Anna shook her head. "Nothing..."

If she was going to fix things, she might as well question the Goddess. Surely she would know a thing or two about this Saralee. The Harvest God was a tough cookie to find. But, with things the way they were, there was no assuring that she'd get there. So, the Harvest Goddess it was. Maybe she'd try to get some reassurance on the story of the bells first...

"Alright everybody, let's get back to sleep..." Perry called out, looking at Anna with concern, "It's been a long night, but I'm sure we'll try to make some progress tomorrow."

Anna and the rest of the village agreed and Anna laid back down between Chase and Gill. Looking up at the ceiling, Anna sighed and closed her eyes.

Unfortunately, no rest was obtained. She kept tossing and turning, thinking and hypothesizing. She came up with some ideas that even Mayor Hamilton couldn't think up. There were so many questions that kept ringing into her ears. An array of possible answers to each of the million questions. She was so tired, and so shocked that she couldn't even narrow down the possibilities. But, somebody had to know something. She had faith in the Wizard... but he was a villager too...

Anna breathed deeply, and turned towards Gill, tenderly resting her head on his chest to listen to his heart beat. It was slow, calming, relaxing.. so relaxing... A warmth that she'd never known seemed to crash over her, making her a million times heavier. His heartbeat rang throughout her her ears and suddenly, she felt like the ocean. The waves crashed over the beach, the heartbeat... the heartbeat fueling everything movement, every action, every sound...

Anna woke up with the light shining onto her face once more. It was early... much to early to be awake. But, it was almost like she'd been refueled in the long, troubled night by a few hours of listening to a heartbeat. Anna shifted lightly, blushing heavily when she found Gill was holding her close, but tenderly... like a teddy bear. And she didn't know what was worse, but Chase was holding onto her by her midsection, closely and silently breathing down her neck. She was frozen for a moment or two before she carefully maneuvered their bodies and stood up, backing away slowly. Talk about embarrassing.

Anna was awakened from her thoughts at the sound of the door being shut. She had only seen a flurry of long, brown hair move outside of the door. Anna looked around and noticed that Anissa was missing. She bit her lip... There was something about this that.. wasn't right. And especially after what had happened last night.

Suddenly, a vision came back. A reflection, in water. It flashed for an instant and disappeared. But she noticed, lightly of the short brown hair that curled just above the shoulders.. Anna shook her head and headed for the door, following Anissa.

Anna opened the door lightly, so it didn't creak, and slipped out, making sure that she didn't get caught. But, when she caught a glimpse of where she was going, she knew it wasn't a good sign. Anna followed Anissa to the Entrance of the Watery Cave, and waited. She waited and waited and waited...

Suddenly, a growll that no human could make came loudly out of the cave.

"THE WATER! THE WATER HAS BEEN STOLEN!" It screamed. Anna didn't know how she could understand, for it was a language that seemed so old, even her great great great grandmother hadn't known it. But it scared her. Anna looked down, and looked to her fingertip. The wave, the design, the heartbeat, and the ocean. She had felt it, experienced and seen it. And then, she knew what had happened.

"Shit."

---

And with that finished, I'm workin on the next one right away... If I get it finished. T__T It's already eleven and I'm friggin tired. Night ya'll... maybe.


	6. Two Kisses, Two Men, One Day

Disclaimer: I don't own them! I'm not a pimp, kay? I'm just a normal person writing about previously made characters... and certain things I made up about them...

---

"Shit."

Anna ran as fast as she could back towards the church, making sure every five seconds that the creature was still screaming and not coming after her. It wasn't long until Anna reached the church once more and almost dived back inbetween Chase and Gill's arms.

But, everything was oddly silent... Anna's heart was pounding in her chest, her breathing shallow and weak as she strained to hear anything that could've helped her out. But... still nothing. She lay, frozen in place, for about ten minutes, intently listening for Anissa. And finally, when Anna thought she was about to die from suspense and possibly lack of oxygen, the Church door opened.

Anna immediately let her head fall, watching out of the corner of her eye as Anissa stepped inside and lay down once more. But, it wasn't so obvious this time. She stepped in and looked around as if... as if she'd been completely awake the whole time. Anna still lay frozen until Anissa laid down... but she still wasn't convinced. Anna did a test ruffle and saw that Anissa was lying completely still, breathing deeply. But somehow, deep in her heart, she knew better. Anna put her head back down again and semi closed her eyes.

The adrenaline in itself was almost too much to handle. Her heart was beating much too fast, and she felt sick. She feared that she wouldn't be awake for much longer. Something had come over her... but she couldn't give in. She had to get out of here, away from Anissa. But... where could you escape to when you were on an island?

_'The Mines...'_ Anna's mind seemed to say to her, _'Hide in the Mines...'_

Anna thought about it... and she knew that it was legitimate. But, what happened when you got to the bottom? Again, nowhere to run. But, if she timed it right and went through certain pitfalls and geysers... 'It might actually work...'

Anna closed her eyes for exactly eight seconds and opened them again to see Anissa towering over her. Not able to close her mouth, she screamed.

At that moment, four things happened. Anissa stumbled back, as if she'd taken a blow, and seemed to come to her senses. Everybody in the church woke up immediately and looked at Anissa, and what she'd done. Chase and Gill both took her away from Anissa and started blubbering jibberish that she couldn't even understand. And finally, Anna realized what could've happened.

Anissa was standing across the room, restrained now, with a knife in hand. It looked like a simple butter knife, but it was clear that it had been sharpened. She was yelling out, obviously in hysteria and confusion over what had happened. She looked like she'd gone insane. But why?

"Die!" Anissa yelled, "Die! I can't stand it here any longer! Your death shall avenge me! All of those lives I've lived, all those times you've hindered me! And all of us! Die! Die so we can rest! Just Die!"

She had gone insane, there was no question about it now. Anna's ears had long since closed, and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She had passed out.

---

Anna's vision was clouded as she was pulled through a place she didn't recognize. But, upon further investigation, she realized that this was an early Harmonica Town, covered in snow with few buildings to its name. There were only two businesses, a Clinic, and an Inn. The other few buildings were housing, she knew this. She didn't know how, but she knew for sure that it was this way.

Sooner than she could realize, Anna was moved forward, towards the Inn. She stepped in, and her body had given a small shiver.

"Hello?" Saralee's voice rang out, like a bell. It was so peaceful... it was no wonder Ignis had fallen for her. "Hello!?"

"Why hello, Saralee!" A voice called to her with a small giggle.

Anna couldn't believe her eyes. In the corner of the room sat Maya with her hair down in a long pink dress.

"Martha!" Saralee called with a giggle of her own, "I didn't see you!"

Anna racked her brain for a thought, any thought that could've been legitimate to explain this situation. But, as she neared, she noted that the girl was definitely Maya. She had the same large blue eyes... and even though the style had been different, a face structure so definite led her to believe that there was no other explanation. This was Maya... it had to be Maya... But, it didn't make sense! Nothing made sense anymore.

"Hey you." A silky voice said from behind her.

Anna's vision was turned around to see a beautiful man. But, before she turned, she saw a jealous glance from Maya. Anna looked over the man lightly, trying her hardest to recognize..

"Carl... Hey." Saralee said.

Anna's eyes widened. Was this... No... it couldn't be... Chase?

"I haven't seen you all day! What kept you silly?"

Yep. Definitely Chase.

Saralee smiled and giggled. "Oh you. I was just out by the Springs."

The springs? Did that mean... the Goddess wasn't... existent!? But, that couldn't be! The Goddess had existed forever. She was as old as the Harvest God! In fact, some scriptures said that she was intended to be his wife! But... did that mean that she wasn't there?

"You love the Springs, don't you?" Carl questioned before sighing and pulling Saralee close. Then he whispered lightly into her ear, "I swear I'll make love to you there one day."

Anna was appalled. She wouldn't know how to react if Chase had said something like that to her. But, as her vision became clearer and clearer, it was apparent that he wasn't kidding, and that Saralee had the same expression of love on her face. Anna gaped and again searched her brain for some kind of explanation, any kind of explanation. But, something in her vision had caught her eye. As Saralee looked deeper and deeper into Carl's deep violet eyes, her reflection was reflected perfectly. It was the same reflection as in the pond, but something had changed...

And then she knew. Her face... it was... younger somehow...

Anna's vision was turned away from Chase and towards Martha as she cleared her throat.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your farm?" Martha questioned, not so sweetly as she'd acknowledged her before.

Saralee looked at Chase again and gave him a smile before he leaned down and kissed her. She felt it, the kiss. It was tender, and careful... But there was no passion, no flame. Anna racked her brain, once more. What did it all mean? You couldn't exactly cheat on a God...

And then she made a hypothesis that actually made sense. 'What if the God was forbidden to have romance with humans...?' Anna questioned in her mind, 'What if she had to put up a disguise, a mask, just to protect herself from the wrath of something much worse than than Ignis?' Anna thought about it and thought about it... but before she realized anything, she was moving out of the Inn and out into the cold, open air.

'Two kisses in one day, from two different men? There has to be something going on here...' Anna thought to herself before she found her vision looking up at the Wizard's house for more than a long moment before returning back to the hill and going back down. And then, she heard it. She heard a thought, that she wished she shouldn't have heard.

'Ignis... I know this will hurt you... But I need to get pregnant... in the Springs.'

---

Anna was awoken by an array of voices and faces appearing in front of her. Her mind was in overload, she had absorbed too much information. There was just too much going on... and did she detect a bitterness in the church that she hadn't felt before? Not as in bitter feeling, but, a bitter cold? Was it... snowing?

Anna shot up immediately and ran to the window, away from all of the faces and voices that made her want to vomit all over the floor. She looked out the window and saw exactly what she didn't want to see.

"Snow..." Anna said softly.

There was no reply. Everyone had gathered from the previous events what the snow had meant.

_'Ignis...'_ Anna thought lightly, _'Please help me.'_

There was still no reply for a couple seconds as she looked out of the window. Maybe... the Ignis that she had once known... was no longer in her heart.

_'Who ever told you that you were Saralee?'_ A voice sounded in Anna's head.

Anna looked around quickly, hysterical. That was it, she was going to go insane and start killing people like Anissa had tried to do to her.

_'Stupid Girl. You're not insane. And you're not Saralee.'_

Anna blinked and gave a test of her thoughts. 'If I'm not Saralee... than who is she, and why am I getting visions of her?'

The voice had stopped completely, and Anna almost gave up before it sounded once more in her delicate mind.

_'Saralee is dead. Now it's up to you to pick up where she left off.'_

* * *

That's it for tonight! 3 Enjoy please, to your heart's content.  
And tune in for more and more interesting things soon!


	7. A Rather Large Pain in the

Disclaimer: I don't own it, yo.

* * *

Anna blinked again, not really knowing what to say about it. But, before she could even question any further she was helped up by Gill with a smile.

"You okay?" He asked, the concern not really well hidden in his voice. Anna turned to him, searching his eyes. There was something strange about all of it. Sure, it was your normal strange mystery type dealies that she'd read once or twice, but there was more to it... like somebody in this picture was lying... big time.

"Yeah, perfect. In fact, if I don't go insane from confusion I'll be just peachy." Anna commented, rubbing her head. Gill looked at her strangely before opening his mouth as if to say something. But, he decided not to and instead rested his arm around her waist. Anna looked down at his hand and back to him.

It was all strange.. all of it. All she had gathered was that Saralee was a whore who messed around with multiple guys. She had no clue where this Permanent Winter came from. And as for the bells? Well, she figured that she ought to steal the rest of them before somebody could use them against her. And the voice...? If she had a choice, and since nobody was controlling what she 'saw' in a vision, she guessed that the voice was lying. For all she knew, the voice could be a spirit trying to manipulate her into doing everything it wanted for total control of the island itself. Oh well. First, she would touch the rest of the bells.

'Are you insane!?' Anna thought to herself, "Do you want to be electrocuted four more times!?'

Apparently, she did. And apparently, she didn't have much time to do it.

'I wouldn't do it if I were you.' The voice rang throughout her head. Anna made the observation that it was male... but it wasn't anybody she'd ever heard before. Anna closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

'I can do what I want.' Anna said, 'It's my body, and what I say goes.'

The voice was silent, and Anna opened her eyes to find a couple girls laughing in the corner. Anna cocked her head to the side before looking up at Gill who looked more than a little red. Why? Anna looked around and then back down at his hand. Well... it probably hadn't helped that he had his arm around her waist while she looked pissed off.

"Sorry..." Anna said apologetically. Gill looked down at her, still embarrassed. Anna flashed a small smile at him and gave him a small hug. "I didn't mean to embarrass you." Really all she wanted to say was she wasn't interested... but she didn't want to hurt his feelings or anything. But... there had to be some way..

"Well, I-" Gill started.

"But I have to go." Anna said with a smile before waving at him and half jogging out of the church door. But, it only made her wonder even more. She had gotten up... where had Chase gone so quickly? He had been there a moment ago.. But, she had no time to worry about a man who could possibly know something about all of this information. It had been revealed so quickly she didn't even know what to do with it.

"Mom..." Anna said to herself, heading down to the mine cart area, "If you would've stayed with me... maybe I wouldn't be here right now..."

'Damn that delicious Banana Ice Cream.' The voice said with a sarcastic sigh. 'It may be your body, but you better do things my way or you'll never make it through.'

Anna gritted her teeth again and headed into the mine shaft. 'Whatever. Talk about my past all you want, you're not going to get anything out of me.'

Anna refused to listen to anything the voice said as she walked deeper and deeper into the mine shaft. She was just thinking to herself... about what could have been, and what was. But soon, her mind was jarred from her thoughts when she thought she felt a rumbling under her feet.

'Run!' The voice said loudly, and Anna was too shocked to obey. Anna started running up the mine shaft, dodging and jumping the rocks that were falling down from the ceiling. Anna scrambled every which way until she made it out of the shaft and into the air. She stopped and took a breath of air.

'What are you doing!? Keep running or you'll get us both killed!' The voice said again.

"It's perfectly fine!" Anna yelled, obviously annoyed out loud. "I'm fine! The collapse is in there, not up here!"

'Well what the hell do you think's holding us up!?' The voice growled.

Anna's eyes widened and she looked back to watch the whole ceiling cave in on the shaft. The whole structure started rumbling, and she already heard it cracking. Anna ran as fast as she could, towards the top. It was becoming detached from the cliff, and soon, she was running on nothing but a track and three support beams which were quickly breaking.

Anna kept running, using a final burst of energy to jump and grab a hold on the cliff. And there she hung, limply for a second or two before looking back to watch the remainder of the track plunge into the water.

"You'd think somebody had it out for me with all of these accidents." Anna said out loud, clearly hysterical. Anna took a deep breath and tried pulling herself up, to no avail. She tried again, and still couldn't pull herself up.

'Noo,' the voice said sarcastically, 'I couldn't tell. Now pull yourself up. Go on, pull. Pull, pull, pull, pull, push... Haha, gotcha. Now pull.'

"I know I know." Anna growled. This voice was a real pain in the ass. It was like having her own personal hindrance with access to her mind twenty four seven. Anna finally pulled herself up, no thanks to the voice, and panted lightly. Running for your life was hard work.

Getting up, Anna brushed herself off before walking towards the Mines. But, she heard something crunch beneath her feet and she lifted it, to see a small purple hair clip. "Chase?" Anna said aloud.

'Hurry up, I'm bored.' The voice said with a yawn.

"Quit it will you!? I just ran for my life!" Anna said, out loud.

'Well I didn't. Now get a move on.' The voice said, 'Or I'll nag you to death. I'll do it, it's been done before.'

"Now I know why men don't like having wives." Anna said under her breath before walking into the entrance of the mine. It was dark, of course. But, she'd never anticipated it to be pitch black the moment she'd come into the cave. Anna sighed lightly and walked to the entrance to the lower levels, already knowing the way by heart.

"Where's Finn when you need him." Anna sighed lightly. Sure, he was just a Harvest Sprite, but he was a glowing Harvest Sprite.

'I'm ten times better than that little pipsqueak.' The Voice said.

"Suuuuure you are. If you're so much better, than why don't you light the way for me?" Anna said sarcastically.

The voice went silent, and Anna smirked. Better than Finn her a-

But then, it seemed like a light had been turned on from the ceiling. Anna looked around frantically, everything looking clear. Damn.. she hated it when people proved they were right.

"Alright alright, you win. Let's go." Anna said. But, there was no voice. Anna looked around and knocked on her head a couple times. "Hello?" Anna questioned. She smiled and laughed lightly, almost maniacally. No voice? It was too bad she'd become accustomed to it. She would've celebrated right on the spot, but she had a job to do.

Anna headed straight into the mine, and with the help of the light, made her way down to the bell in no time. There it was, sitting there. It looked...

'Different?' The voice questioned, a hint of a smile in its voice.

'Oh shut up.' Anna thought with a frown, 'Let's just get this over with.'

'Don't touch it with the same finger as last time, or something bad will happen.' The voice warned again.

Anna bit her tongue, just this once, and stepped up to the red bell. She held out her middle finger, and lightly touched the bell...

BAM! Suddenly she was drowning in ice cold water. She was so cold, and she couldn't breathe. Anna put her other hand to her throat and a force knocked her backwards so quickly that she hit the wall. All of the air she actually had left had been smacked out of her by the wall, along with about a half a cup of water.

Anna breathed erratically and sat there for just a moment before she felt herself being pulled.

'Oh no... not this again...' Anna thought, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

'What? What again!? Answer me!!!'

But, Anna was too far gone. She couldn't here, nor feel. She could only see...

---

It was a beautiful scene. The snow glittered across the ground, as if the sun were its instructor. There were sparkles everywhere, dancing with joy with each step that her vision took. But, she only heard a sigh come from her body's mouth. There was no joy in this ever lasting winter for her... and Anna had a funny feeling that this feeling would only get worse. She heard a couple crunches from behind her and her vision turned around.

"May I help you?" Saralee questioned.

There was a man... about 6'4" standing in front of her. He was built perfectly, a male model in today's society no doubt. He was lean, with a full head of hair of the richest color of honey she'd ever known. His eyes, a dashing green, sneaky and yet, smooth. In other words... he was about the hottest man alive in any era. He took a couple steps forward and smiled, a smile so elegant that she could even feel Saralee falling for him.

That's it, Saralee was a full blown whore. Just how many men could she like anyway.

"Anna? That's your name... isn't it?"

Anna froze. Was she dreaming? Had that man just... uttered her name...? Her name? The voice sounded so familiar.

"No, I'm afraid not. And I'm sorry to tell you that there is nobody named Anna in this village. But..." Saralee stopped suddenly. "I was planning to name my daughter Anna. It's such a modern, pretty name."

Anna listened in on the conversation but... it wasn't like she couldn't, right?

"Oh, what a shame.." The man said. "What a shame. If you ever get to meet her, tell her to call me Henry."

Anna watched at the man look into Saralee's eyes, and could see him look right through Saralee, and right at her. Anna was just stunned. And then Anna heard a thought that she probably rather wouldn't have heard.

'Mm... if you help me make her I'll tell her everyday.'

Anna's cheeks flushed in utter embarrassment. Really? Was that anything to think about a man? She'd never thought of something so... Anna shivered, but the man still stood there.

"I'll make sure of it." Saralee said, looking him over and pausing at a place that Anna rather wouldn't mention, "Is there anything else?"

The man looked thoughtful for a moment before giving Saralee a straight answer. "Yeah. If she's listening right now, I'd like to tell her that as soon as I get a body, I'll never leave her again."

She could feel a sense of disappointment from Saralee. But Anna sighed. Another man in love with her? This sounded like a real pain in the ass.

And then she realized, and screamed. She never knew that the body a voice belonged to could be so... hot. She had no doubts about judging a book by its cover now. The voice itself was not only sarcastic, but way different than she'd ever thought.

"Oh, I'm guessing you're promised to her?" Saralee questioned, a little too flirty than Anna would have liked.

"You could say that." Henry said.

Anna shivered. It was eerie looking at him this way... So, so eerie..

---

Anna woke up with a start, still in the cave. But, the lights were out. Again, she was left with no sight, and no voice.

"Hello...?" Anna questioned, trying to feel around. She paused, wondering if she should call him by name before remembering she'd just touched the bell. Anna looked at her finger in awe, seeing it glow lightly in the dark, a beautiful flame pattern engraved onto her finger. Anna shivered lightly and then focused all of her energy into her finger...

Suddenly, a set of torches in the room lit up, and Anna looked around at the chamber.

"Wow.." Anna said, her voice echoing. But... there was a problem. She could hear footsteps... and they didn't sound very welcoming.

* * *

Hehe. I have a new favorite character. xp I can't tell you though. You'll get an introduction shortly. ;) Well, Ciao.


	8. Oopsie, I Think I Fell

**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters, or their setting. And I don't own My Heart with Go On by Celine Dion which I am listening to right now either.

Okay guys, sorry for not updating as quickly as I was, but that's gonna change because tonight's my final show of Cocktails with Mimi. So, yeah. :3 Expect more, you can.

* * *

Anna had to think quick. She had no voice to lead her, and there was only twenty more levels to disappear down before she had to meet the footsteps. And she also knew that she really couldn't jump into boiling hot lava that eventually awaited her down there. She was thinking so quickly she forgot what had just happened, and she had to react. Her feet fled for her, down the steps further into the mine. About three levels further down the mine was met with another inhumane scream, which made her run faster.

'What are you doing!?' The Voice said, quick, 'go to the very corner of the level!'

Anna, too frightened to disobey, ran and jumped into the very corner of the room before feeling herself being shot up towards the top. Anna screamed as she shot up, level after level after level. She couldn't see a thing. Before she knew it, she was thirty levels... above ground.

'Come on! Hurry! Jump to your left!' The voice commanded.

Anna was a bit more hesitant this time, but obeyed, and she was shot up once more, to the 45th and final level... the level of the purple bell. Anna didn't have to listen to the voice scream the instructions, because she already knew what she had to do. Running up the stairs towards the purple bell, she didn't dare look back as she scrambled away from the scream. She was almost there, almost there...! And with her thumb, she embraced the purple bell, a force so large hitting her that she was thrown... right off the edge of the cliff.

---

Anna looked around at the scenery... of Saralee's world. What was happening? Was... was she in control? Anna looked down at her hands and marveled. This couldn't be happening... It was everything she'd experienced before but now... now she was Saralee. She was in a small white dress, out in the rain. and it was almost see through now. Long black hair flowed down her shoulders, and her gleaming brown eyes looked around. She was in the circle. But not in any circle... the circle. She was standing right where the harvest tree would be. Anna looked around, frightened before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Saralee..." It whispered into her ear. Anna reacted and turned around to face Ignis. His voice was soothing, and his hands warm. He pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply, his hands running down her back. It felt so right...

But she knew it was wrong. Anna pulled away, her mind reeling. She wasn't Saralee, she was Anna! She was Anna... She was... She...

Ignis pulled her back towards him and kissed her again, the passion reeling through her mind and her body. Her hands went to his neck and they laid down in the center of the circle, kissing and caressing through the rain filled night, their bodies entwined, her body taking control for hours...

---

Anna woke up with a start, feeling her body in pain. So much pain... But, she felt her lips, and knew. The voice was lying. She had to be Saralee... she just had to. That was no figment of imagination... that was living in a memory. A memory... A memory! Anna sat up, her head reeling. She coughed violently and looked around. What had happened after that? And who in the heck was Henry? Why did he lie? But... if he wanted to get rid of her... he'd had plenty of chances to already...

But, Anna looked around, blinking. She didn't know where she was. She looked around, the landscape so unfamiliar. But then, she realized.

"No! This can't be!" Anna cried out, jumping up. She shook her head and slapped herself, picking up a strand of long black hair with horror. "No..."

Anna took a deep breath, looking around. This was where the church was going to be! This is where she'd adopted Ka-

Anna heard a bark and looked back with widened eyes, seeing a large, white Pyrenees happily lolling its tongue. No... this just... it wasn't...

"Oh god, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" Anna cried, sinking to her knees. She couldn't be stuck here, she had a task to do, where she was from! In the world she'd been in! It was the same world, but a different time! She was Anna! She was Anna! She was born in a hospital outside of Tokyo! She had a beautiful mother with long brown hair and the softest eyes in the world! She had been born, years from now! This wasn't possible.

"Wake up..." Anna sobbed lightly to herself, "Wake up."

"But my dear, you are awake, finally." The voice said. Only, it wasn't in her head. No... it wasn't in her head. Now she really had to be dreaming. She had to be! There was nothing logical about this! She'd just been in a memory, she couldn't just wake up in one as well!

"You're not here, you're not here." Anna said quietly before seeing two shoes appear before her eyes. A hand was placed on her shoulder, but it wasn't warm like that of Ignis. It was cold. Anna looked up to see Henry, his cunning green eyes staring into her soul... right at her. "You're... here."

Anna stood up suddenly and backed away. "But why am I here!? Why!?" Anna questioned, "And why are you here with me? Why were you in the other world with me, why isn't any of this making sense? If I'm here, where is Saralee?" Anna questioned, her mind reeling but her feet staying in place.

"Woah, calm down. You don't want to damage the baby." Henry said with a laugh.

"B-baby...?" Anna questioned, before it dawned on her. "But... but it's.."

"Not your baby? You committed the act, therefore, your baby. Didn't think the Harvest King was so potent did you?" Henry snickered to himself.

"H-HEY! That's not funny!" Anna outright told him, "This is terrible! I need to go back, I need to I just... I just... You know what I have to do!"

"Baby first, task last." Henry put simply. Anna gritted her teeth. He was even more annoying in a real body then he was as a voice. He draped his arm around her shoulder and sighed. "It'll be a quick nine months, let me assure you. I'm here to save you some embarrassment. After all, saying that the Harvest King rained his blessings on you and gave you a baby isn't really enough to explain."

Anna pushed him away and frowned. "No way! Why would I say I was having a baby with you?"

Henry laughed, or more like snorted. "Well, it's either me or have sex with Chase and say it's his. Then you still run the risk of it not looking like him. You need somebody with no known background."

Anna was silent for a moment before looking at Henry. "You called him Chase... isn't it Carl here?"

"Yeah, but I thought you'd like it better if you remembered everyone's names the way they were. You're going to have a baby, so you might as well remember for the nine months you're here." Henry put.

"Why was I put in her body to begin with!? If I'm not Saralee, and I'm not related, then why on earth am I having her baby?" Anna said through gritted teeth. She thought she might as well get one answer, right?

Henry looked at Anna and flashed a smile. "Because Saralee wanted you to."

Anna paused for a second. "Wait... what?" Anna squinted her eyes, "She can't even know about me. Why?"

Henry seemed to be pondering something for a moment, which didn't make him any less shady in her mind. She still didn't trust what he was saying, but she couldn't really turn to anyone else. Anna was told to sit on the ground, and she obliged, watching Henry as he paced back and forth, back and forth.

"Okay. Here's the deal. Saralee panicked. At the beginning of her love affair with Carl, she prayed. She didn't know where to, and she didn't know why. But she prayed that she could get through her life with as little pain as possible." Anna blinked and then got mad.

"So...?" Anna said through gritted teeth, waiting for him to say it.

"So... it kind of reached... us."

Anna was taken by surprise. "Us? But I.."

"Shh, presentation going on." Henry said, cutting her off, "So, you observed her life through, and being the kind and passionate person that you were, you decided that you'd take on most of the pain for her."

"I'm just a-"

"Again, Shhh!" Henry said, completely serious this time. "You created a life of your own, deciding when you'd go from Saralee to Anna to Saralee, depending on the stage of life she was in. And you created a backup plan, just in case you thought you didn't want to do it anymore. But... that backup plan backfired... big time."

Anna was silent, so Henry went ahead and pressed on.

"I used to be your... well... boyfriend." Henry said, "We always fought, but when you went down you told me to watch over you and make sure nothing went terribly wrong. You always nagged me, and you were quite a hot head but... I knew why we were together for so long when you decided to help that girl."

Anna raised an eyebrow, "And you expect me to actually believe that?" Anna questioned.

"You told me you wouldn't. But I'm not gonna leave." Henry said.

Anna thought for a second before sighing. "Alright partner. You may be a liar, but you're the only person I have. Let's do this."

Anna stood herself up and brushed herself off, looking at Henry with a hurt expression. Anna frowned. "Stop looking like a scolded puppy. You're here to help me remember? Maybe if I actually remembered you it would help, but until then, we'd better just take it easy."

Anna didn't know what to believe. Where was her body now? And what about when she gave birth? Why was this moment supposed to be so painful? His story wasn't believable but it was the only one she had. He could've been a relative of the screaming black shadows, why in the heck should she trust him? Well... it was all she was relying on, so she might as well get it over with. But she still had a nagging feeling in the back of her brain that told her something was wrong with this picture. Something so obvious that she would scream at herself for it later. And as they walked down towards Harmonica town Anna failed to notice the three little engravings on the tips of his fingers...

* * *

Yay pregnancy!

Well, anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll update soon.


	9. Liar Liar

**Disclaimer:** Yo yo, you yo! I don't own the characters that happen to be in this story.. besides Henry and Saralee, ya here?

* * *

Saralee sat, sipping a cup of tea. The air around her was calm, and she sat inside a small but quaint house. The tea was always her favorite. So relaxing it was. She relaxed her head back before she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. They started deeply massaging her aching muscles and she smiled, opening her eyes to see an all too familiar face.

"Ah, Henry." Saralee said, taking a deep breath, "What brings you here to my humble home?"

Henry looked at her with a smile, but she knew better. His eyes... they faltered.

Saralee immediately tensed and slammed her teacup on the table. "What? What's wrong! What the hell did you do wrong!?" Saralee yelled. Saralee's disguise turned green haired, the eyes became as cold as ice. Her tanned skin became pale and she gripped her hands together tightly. "If you mess this up you're spending an eternity in hell!"

Here Saralee was, in all her glory. Long green hair, and icy blue eyes that seemed to pierce the soul. Her skin was so fair, and her hair seemed to sprout flowers. She was, the Harvest Goddess. But, she wasn't Saralee at all. And she never had been.

Henry looked at her like a scolded puppy. "My lady.. I-"

"You're not showing weakness for that little bitch are you? The Harvest God won't take kindly to you." The Goddess sat back in her chair and sipped the tea, relaxing, but not much. "It's either me or hell, you know that. Now dispose of her after the baby is born, and then once more when she releases the bells." The Goddess commanded.

In the center of the table, there was a little mirror lying flat, that split into two images. One was Saralee, the real Saralee, resting, sleeping in her bed, an empty spot beside her. And the other was of Anna, lying on the beach, where she had washed upon after falling headfirst into the ocean. It didn't seem like anybody was going to come to retrieve her anytime soon... which was surprising.

"No... I won't fail but.. I can't keep lying." Henry stated, "She's... smarter than I thought."

The Goddess made a small hmph noise and slammed her tea back on the table again. "No mere human, reincarnated or otherwise, is that smart. If you fail to do this, you already know your fate."

Henry backed away from the Goddess with his head bowed and walked backwards out of the door. The Goddess looked into the mirror before watching both figures open their eyes simultaneously, and look straight at her. But, after shaking her head, she realized that they were both sleeping... that it was only her imagination...

---

Anna woke up in the form of Saralee, the sun pouring into the window and shining on her face. She hurt, for some reason that she couldn't fathom. She hadn't done anything but sleep. Perhaps... perhaps she still felt what her other form was feeling? No... that wasn't a statement she could really figure out by herself. Maybe she'd ask Henry... if he would answer. The man was so cryptic it was a wonder she was still trusting him at all.

Anna sat up slowly and pushed off the covers, sliding out of the bed as if she'd done it a million times before. It felt so right... this life did. It was like this life fit hand in hand with her other one, or, before it had gotten out of hand that was. And through all of this cryptic mystery and nonsense, she still had to wonder what had caused this entire thing. Was it really just a scream? Could a simple scream set off so much havoc and confusion. Even Hamilton couldn't imagine something like this, and that's when she knew it was bad.

Anna got up from her bed and looked out of the window. She didn't feel pregnant, she didn't look pregnant. It had only been a day, how in the hell could Henry know for sure? Well... if she'd really looked over this woman's life before hand then she could've looked at the conception, and even though it did make sense... somehow... it felt wrong. But, if that's what she needed to do, then so be it. Anna was strong, she'd made it through the tough times even before she'd become an insane and incredibly old lady.

"I suppose..." Anna said lightly, "I should find out what year it is."

It was true. If she knew the year, and maybe even some local folklore, she could find out a lot about what could be going on... possibly... Anna walked over to the door and looked outside, marveling at how pure everything seemed. It was untainted by countless buildings. It was pure nature, with a couple pieces of stacked wood on top of it. She was betting that the fugue forest was even larger and more complicated now than it was... scratch that... would be. But, she wondered.

She always did, it seemed. There had to be a way to stop this eternal winter, didn't there? Why'd she get stuck with a pregnancy? Maybe... just maybe... some force above had seen it all and told her to correct the path that had been made oh so many years ago. Anna put her hand over her uterus and felt nothing. It was amazing, what would happen. But now, she was given a task to do, and nine months to do it. But... she didn't exactly trust Henry... she'd have to distract him and make him go away for awhile.

But... then she realized, Henry wasn't there. Wasn't he here to save her from embarrassment? He said he would never leave... Anna shrugged her shoulders and headed out, leaving him behind, wherever he was. There was enough she had to worry about, and if he wasn't here, than it was on his conscious if something bad happened.

---

Anna got into town and walked into a place that was so familiar it was eerie. She didn't even bother knocking. Anna slipped inside of Mayor Hamilton's house, which hadn't changed one bit. Anna looked around and stepped further in before the door closed by itself behind her.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Gill's voice sounded through the room.

Anna spun around, her long black hair spinning with her as her soft brown eyes settled on his icy blue ones. His voice sounded so cold for her now... He had become one of her best friends, and yet now he was... he was cold. His glare was like daggers, resting on her borderline shocked gaze as he stepped closer.

"It's not okay to just step into someone's house." Gill, or whatever his name was in this century happened to be said.

"Oh.." Anna said, "Well I was looking for Mayor Hamilton and-"

"Mayor?" Gill questioned, "Mayor Hamilton? Who's that?"

Anna blinked. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come without Henry. He did know the time period better than she did after all. She felt so dumb standing there in front of... Gill. Maybe it was the feelings she held for him in her own life, or maybe even the fact that she thought he'd still be her friend, but every criticizing statement made her want to cry. But, she held up and took a deep breath, proud and strong.

"Nevermind, where's your Dad?" Anna questioned.

"What do you want my father for?" Gill questioned with a small sniff, "It doesn't matter anyway, because he's not here. Now go away."

"Wait, what?" Anna questioned, "You can't just push me out! That's rude!"

"I'll tell you what's rude and what isn't in my own house, Saralee." He said before escorting, but more like pushing her out of the house.

Anna looked back with a scowl and brushed herself off. "Yeah!?" Anna cried out, "Well you can just forget being my friend then!" Anna made a small noise of protest and started up the hill towards the Wizard's house. It was either him, or Carl... and she had a feeling that Carl had a few special plans that she'd rather not carry out at the moment.

Anna wiped away a quick tear and blinked several times before continuing, and finally reaching the Wizard's house. She knocked once, twice, and three times. And then she knocked another three times. But, there was no answer. Finally, Anna just stepped inside and closed the door behind her, noting that it was dusty inside.

"Huh?" Anna questioned. She looked around, noting that everything was in place, but there were a couple things missing. Namely the huge telescope that let him see the position of the stars from inside of his house. Anna looked around... but there was no Wizard. Spotting a note on the table, Anna walked over to it and picked it up, reading it to herself before giving an exasperated sigh.

'To whomever is reading this note. I suppose you weren't polite enough not to step in my house when I didn't answer, you must've had a good reason. Now, I have forseen your visit and you have exactly three hours. The books you need are on the bottom shelf of my bookcase, and whatever you find is up to you to believe or not. Good Luck, The Wizard.'

Anna looked at the bottom shelf of his bookcase and noticed that there were five different books that stood out from the rest. She pulled them out and put them on the table. The first one was a beautiful shade of orange, and she opened it up.

_'There was a cunning young lass, named Maria, and she always got what she wanted. There was little she didn't want, because she was never happy. Then one day, she saw the concept of love and thought, that if she could obtain that, she would finally be happy. So, she went to the Harvest God upon the top of a mountain. Ignis! She cried, Please! Make me into one of your kind so that I may be loved by all! Ignis, obliging this, gave her powers. Her blonde hair turned green and sprouted beautiful flowers, and her two of a kind green eyes turned icy blue. And Maria was happy. So, she went out among the people and was loved by everybody. But this tale does not end so happily. No, she soon got bored with her subjects and ordered them around. And they did what she told them to do. Finally, she was worshiped more than the Harvest God himself, so he banned her from the earth, sealing her away with five bells, so she would not reign terror on the world again.'_

Anna's eyes widened. That didn't suit the Harvest Goddess at all! The Harvest Goddess had pleaded the Harvest God to save the land, so he put five bells to save it! This was what she'd learned... and she knew the Goddess... she knew her! The Goddess had called to Anna, and she'd seen her with her own eyes. There was no way she was sealed away...

So, with that, Anna moved on to the next book, one with a bright purple binding. She opened it up and it sparkled, so she knew there had to be something important.

_'Reincarnation is a funny thing. In fact, many people believe there are rules to such things. But, here are the real rules. Reincarnation is the idea that a soul can inhabit a body more than once throughout a period of years. The strongest soul gets the body. If there's a soul out there that is looking for a particular body to inhabit, all it would have to do is wait for it to be born. Waiting is like calling dibs, especially if they know before hand. But, a baby's soul can also be pushed out, if a ritual is performed. All somebody would have to do is slay the mother of the child and have it consume a spoonful of the mother's blood. After this, they can call a specific soul to inhabit the body of the baby. This does not work on children if they've already gotten attached to their parents.'_

Anna shivered lightly, her hand moving down to her uterus again. She didn't even want to think about something like that happening. She didn't even know what any of these books had in common, but she had a dreadful feeling that she was going to find out sooner than she'd really like. Anna's hand, shaking slightly, grabbed the next book and opened it's brown exterior, peering inside at some of the words. But it was all in a foreign language. Anna shook her head and closed it before sighing. Only two to go..

Anna looked up at the Wizards strange clock and widened her eyes. She had a minute to get out of there. Anna scrambled all the books together and put them back on the shelf before running out as fast as she could. But, upon exiting, she forgot that he'd lived on a hill and she was careening, her legs running and stumbling by themselves down the hill. And then, she tripped. She was going to fall face first... the baby was going to be lost.

* * *

*le gasp* :o

Well, Ciao. ;)


	10. A Look through Glass Orbs

Disclaimer: insert witty yet disclaiming of every character comment here in hopes that it's good enough to suffice.

* * *

Anna closed her eyes. But then, she opened them. She wanted to remember this for some reason... Not only did she want to remember it... but something was nagging her in the back of her mind again... it said... she would be alright. She didn't know why, but she knew herself best. Anna opened her eyes, watching the ground come up to face. She couldn't help herself. She shut her eyes tightly, awaiting an impact. But... it never came.

Anna stared at the ground in front of her nose, blinking a total of ten times before she felt herself being helped up. Anna was dizzy for a second, and confused, not to mention delirious before she whipped her head around to see the Wizard. It still didn't make much sense... but he was a Wizard. She had never really taken him seriously... she knew that he had some kind of power, but making her levitate in midair didn't seem like it was in his trick list.

Anna turned around to face him fully.

"Do I know you?" The Wizard asked, looking straight at her.

Anna gulped. "I'm Saralee... remember? I've been here for as long as I can remember."

"No..." The Wizard said, "You're not Saralee. Saralee is a fox. She's sneaky, and she's fast. She only thinks about one thing, not a million. And besides, Saralee wouldn't enter my house looking for answers."

Well, she was caught. But, surely if the Wizard could help her levitate, he could remember who she- Wait a minute. She knew now. There was nothing to remember. The Wizard would know in due time but... he wouldn't know for... how many years? Did that mean the Wizard of where she had been living had already known about this? It hadn't seemed like it..

She knew exactly what Hamilton would've said. 'Messing in the past is a risky business! Everything you say or do could alternate the future to oblivion. Unless of course you went back and uh, elected my family to the Mayor's position sooner. Than things might be even better off than they ever were!' Anna shook her head and chuckled lightly before looking at the Wizard, who had a peculiar looking smirk on his face.

"You do that often?" The Wizard asked.

"Do what?" Anna questioned.

"Go into your own little world?"

Anna pondered the statement. She did go into her little world more often than naught. But what she wanted was her old world back. But, the Wizard couldn't have the answer. He couldn't have the answer for... for... a long time. And by then it would be much too late. Something nagged at the back of her mind once more. Unanswered thoughts that she knew she had to think about...

"Ugh." Anna said, "All the time."

The Wizard smirked and laughed lightly. "Come on back in the house, and I can tell you about the rest of the books."

Anna looked at the Wizard and cocked her head to the side. "I've always wondered... do you have a real name? Everyone just calls you Wizard."

The Wizard looked confused for a moment and then shook his head. "Warlock, everyone calls me Warlock. And yes, I do."

Anna blinked. Well... he obviously didn't want to share. She couldn't believe that even the Wizard had a different nickname in this time frame. Anna shook her head and sighed. "Alright. There was one I couldn't read at all.. And I still can't put the pieces together."

"Pieces of what?" The Wizard questioned, curiosity apparent in his eyes.

"Pieces of the puzzle."

"What puzzle?"

"It's a metaphor."

"What's it a metaphor for?"

Anna frowned. "No teasing, let's go and read."

Honestly she was surprised at how willingly he followed. There was something odd about this one... not that there wasn't anything odd about every single aspect of her life, why not pile more odd things on top? She was probably the only person who had successfully time traveled, even if it was against her will, at least she had that going for her. But all of that aside...

She couldn't help but wonder why the note only said she had one hour if the Wizard was going to escort her into the house by himself anyway. Anna sighed. Complication after complication.

"What if I don't want to read? What if I already know what to tell you?" The Wizard questioned about halfway up the long hill.

Anna paused and her breath hitched. Did she really want to know the truth? People said that the truth set you free... But did she really want to be free? What if all of this was just some big dream that she was having? Would she want it all to be a dream? Why was she even hesitating!? She wanted to get the hell out of here! But... What if this was the land after death? She had been falling down from a huge cliff when she'd 'left'. Did she have to experience that after she was done here?

"No..." Anna said finally, "If it's possible to wait a couple weeks or so... I'd appreciate it."

The Wizard looked at her in his ever so indifferent way and opened the door to his house, which looked the same as she'd left it. It made her wonder if he'd even entered the house before she'd exited. But, he was mysterious like that. She could see this kind of indifference getting on her nerves. What if she wanted him to at least feel something? But... if she really was going to die, it was better that he tell her instead of protecting her of the knowledge... Wasn't it?

Anna sighed and stepped further into the place, getting a better look around it than she had before. The record started spinning by itself, a very relaxing tune coming into play as she looked around the place. Now that she looked at it, it was a very neat little building, with a perfect color coordination from the walls to the carpet and tile, and even to the bedsheets. Anna looked around a couple times more before she heard the Wizard's throat clear.

Anna hurried to the table where he was sitting and she sat down across from him as he grabbed his crystal ball. He set it in the middle of the table and gazed into Anna's eyes. Anna stared at him, making the connection before seeing him look down into the ball. She felt like she had done this a million times before. Anna looked down into the crystal ball and marveled at her original form, a little banged up but still in good shape as she was being carried towards the church. Anna smiled warmly as she noticed it was Gill carrying her.

"Wow... you've never smiled like that before." The Wizard commented, Anna's eyes snapping up to the Wizard's again.

"What..? Before??" Anna questioned. Had Saralee been here often? If she had, Anna wasn't surprised. She seemed to be a little more than friendly with more than one of the guys in this town...

"Yes... you always have something on the back of your mind... you said it was nagging you." The Wizard explained, looking into the ball again. "Wow.. whoever that girl is, Garrett really cares for her."

Anna was confused to who he was talking about, but she quickly caught on. It seemed everyone had a similar name in this town... and they all looked the exact same. Maybe... maybe she needed to take a different route to truth.

"Wi- I mean... Warlock..." Anna started, "What exactly does this permanent winter do...?"

The Wizard looked grim. He flashed her a small, sad smile before acknowledging that she should look down at the orb.

Anna looked down and saw snow, piled high upon the small town, covering everything up to the peak of the mountain. Nothing was left uncovered. Somehow... Anna felt at peace. And when the orb changed it's image, she knew why. Everybody, absolutely everybody was sleeping. Sleeping... an unending sleep in which they did not age. She saw the snow melt and the seasons change, everybody still fast asleep as day after day, month after month, and year after year went by.

And then, something caught her eye. There was one person that she had seen, with their eyes alert and open. It was a sprite, with blonde hair and sly green eyes... Anna's eyes widened as she looked on through this series of images. One by one, the sprite visited the people of the town and whispered something lightly into their ears. And then, as soon as he was gone, they awoke anew...

Anna was about to look up when another image faded into view. It was Saralee, holding a newborn infant in her hands. She looked happy, and weary, but she fainted. And as soon as she did, the same Harvest Sprite came and took the baby whispering one mouthed word into Saralee's ear. She couldn't see exactly what the word had been but... she was almost certain she saw it roll off of his lips.

"Die." Anna said to herself. She swallowed deeply and looked up to the Wizard, his look of indifference still upon his face. Did he not care? Or... had he just not seen everything that had gone on right in front of his eyes? If he saw... if he knew... why couldn't he just stop this himself? Oh... these things were just too complicated. Maybe like every other man he was afraid to get attached. But maybe... maybe she could cure his indifference. She surely had time... yes... plenty of time.

"Oh Warlock, I'm ready to tell you who I really am."


	11. Bad Dreams

Disclaimer: I dun own it. T__T Happy?

* * *

Anna woke up, her head throbbing. She shot up, her hands quickly rising to her head as she looked around frantically. Where was she? Her panicked eyes couldn't focus on anything but her unfamiliar surroundings, before her eyes settled onto Gill as his hands turned her face towards his. Her eyes focused on his and she calmed down just enough to realize... she was in the church.

Her hands were buried in her short locks of hair, her face.. her own face.. reflected in Gill's eyes as she stared up at him. Anna took her hands from her hair and put her hands on Gill's arms, bringing them down from her face. Anna then looked around, as if she were making sure that everything around her was still real. And it was. Matilda was in the corner of the room, stuffing her face and allowing Chloe to pet her. Anna felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up into Chase's face.

Everything looked... the same yet... so much different. Chase's face looked so carefree, and Gill's looked softer... and more caring. Her mind flashed back to the cold stare she had gotten from the same being... And the lust filled look of Chase's was gone, replaced with one of innocence. They were different, yet uncannily the same. It was as if they had really been born again, the same face throughout history. Anna bit her lip and got up, Gill following suit.

"Are you alright?" Gill questioned. Anna turned towards him and was about to reach out before something shocked her. It was only a light shock, but she got the point. The symbols on her hands... she was about to show them to Gill. And then, everything came rushing back to her. Her mission, her so called previous life and her... travels throughout time. Anna's head was aching from all the information, but... how long had she been out? Was she too late to gather the rest of the symbols?

"I'm..." Anna said, before watching the doctor approach.

Jin smiled widely and examined her face. "Wow, you look much better." Jin said, "That medicine must've helped."

"Medicine...?" Anna questioned, wincing her eyes as she felt a migraine come on, "how long was I out."

This time, it was Chase who answered. "52 hours 42 minutes and 37 seconds." Chase said with a small laugh. It wasn't funny, but Anna knew it was all just to relieve the tension. Anna rubbed the back of her head and felt the pain in her head ease.

"Do you think it's safe for me to.. go out? I have some things to do right away and I-"

"No." Jin said, stopping her mid-sentence, "It's almost dark out, and it probably isn't safe to go anywhere before you get some rest. You were out cold for two days after all."

Anna bit her lip, feeling the stress of the situation rise, making her head almost pound. Henry... he would take care of it, wouldn't he? But she had to wonder, what the bells actually had to do with all of this. She had the majority of the symbols, what difference did it make if she had all of them? Was it really going to save the town?

---

"Damn it!" The Harvest Goddess screamed, an invisible force slamming a helpless Henry into the wall of the cage that the Goddess had to live in. He coughed up a silvery liquid onto the floor and gasped for air before he was slammed into the opposite wall by the same force.

"You let her get away!" The Harvest Goddess screamed, throwing the table in the center of the room above Henry, scratching his nearly perfect face. Henry put up a hand as if to say he surrendered, but the Harvest Goddess wouldn't have any of that. The couple chairs she had followed the table, this time bruising him.

"Get her back! Finish the deed and get her back!" The Harvest Goddess screamed, "Or I'll do more than bruise you!"

Henry disappeared into thin air, leaving the Harvest Goddess less than satisfied. She made a complete mess of her room, her rage causing her to terrorize the once seemingly happy place. Everything was a mess. Items were flying everywhere, still falling. Finally, she calmed down, lifting a couple items to where they had once been and pouring another cup of tea.

The Goddess put the cup to her lips and opened her icy blue eyes, the warming sensation of the tea not affecting her cruel blue orbs at all. It would be a long time before she got out, but it was nothing compared to the time she'd already spent in this hell hole. Nine months was nothing, and nothing would stop her from getting out in Nine Months. She needed patience, but when Henry jeopardized her chances of being set free, patience was the least of her worries.

The Goddess' eyes flitted to the wall and around the room where everything was as it had been before the event. She quietly sipped her tea and waited, in solitude, as the mirror on the table showed her what was going on.

---

Anna lay between Gill and Chase like usual, the two of them providing a comfort so warm she didn't even need a blanket. But, despite the comfort, she couldn't help but worry. There was still something wrong about all of this. She was convinced that she wasn't crazy, and that she'd actually gone back to the past but... she had a feeling that she was going back for a reason that only she knew. Anna sighed, turning her head to Chase, and then to Gill, both of them sleeping peacefully, as if they hadn't slept in days. Maybe she'd stolen their sleep, and now they'd stolen hers? She wouldn't doubt it. There wasn't anything she wouldn't, or couldn't believe at this point.

Anna stared up at the ceiling blankly, wondering where Henry went. Maybe he was stuck in the past...? Maybe she could ask somebody. But... nobody knew.. Anna sighed again, giving up to her wondering mind. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep, curled up with Matilda, her curiously confused mind wandering through the realm of impossibilities.

---

Henry walked the streets of the present day, looking at the mess everything still was. Come to think of it, things looked more like they had back in Saralee's time. Henry sighed and rubbed his eyes. Really, he wasn't a being of the present time. He was just a sinful being of the past, too corrupt to go to where the other spirits were. Or, he was. The Goddess had taken him in, knowing he was so corrupt, and she'd molded him into her own Harvest Sprite. Really, it wasn't so bad. But... his form here was... ugh. He couldn't appear before anybody. He was invisible... and only one person could really hear him.

Henry searched his mind and shook his head. He couldn't figure out what Saralee and Anna had to do with each other. He knew that they had to be related, or something such like that. But... what in the heck did the Goddess want? Saralee and Anna were much much too different from each other. Saralee was one sinful being, maybe even more so than he had been once. Henry coughed, his insides rattling in pain. She'd even damaged his left wing. You could really say he was a hybrid sprite. His wings were more like a dragonfly's wings.. and of course he was much better looking than any of those other gay looking creatures. He had lived his life, there was no use in regretting eternal life now was there? Even if it meant getting beat, he had taken plenty of beatings in his past life. Or at least, that's what he remembered.

Henry walked to the outskirts of town, looking out at the ocean, his green eyes moving with the ocean waves. The place was such a mess.. But he got no comfort, for he knew that he would make it much worse before it got better. Henry smirked, his jaw shooting a signal of pain to his brain. His palm raised up to caress his own cheek as he winced. "Damn that smarts." Henry said, exhaling lightly. He didn't have this in mind when the Goddess had reeled him in with 'Eternal Bliss'. He hadn't believed her, never. He had been to sinful to deserve such things.

Henry no longer remembered his mother or father. He remembered nothing much but a terrible past. He had killed, and been killed. He didn't remember any siblings, or where in the heck he'd fit in with these people, if he had at all that was. He guessed he was the only being sinful enough to be reeled in by HG.

Henry walked forward, seeing the farmer's house come into view. Surprisingly, this struck a curious feeling in his brain. Henry blinked and walked forward, into the mess that used to be the farmer's hard earned house. Henry walked through the rubble and looked around, able to perfectly see in the dark. It was just one of the things he'd been rebuilt to do. Henry shook his head and looked to the floor, something gaining his interest. The floor sounded hollow. Henry lifted up a part of the flooring and jumped inside the hole, thankfully not dropping far to get to the bottom.

Henry looked around, seeing everything in what would've been a pitch black hole to anyone else, including the Goddess. Henry spotted many books, they looked like records. Henry blinked lightly and reached for the year that he had just been in. Henry opened the book and found a listing for Saralee, a deceased Saralee, not too long before the due date. Henry's breath hitched in his throat. The records... Henry flipped to the beginning of the book and found a signature. He gulped. Everything had been personally recorded by Garrett. The kid was still a nuisance after all of these years? Why did he have to meddle?

Henry bit his lip and put the book back, before the first book caught his eye. He blinked lightly and took the book quickly, opening it. The beginning had a glued copy of a picture of a small group of families. There was the Mayor's family, including his wife. There was the farmer's family, the rancher's family, and the inn's family. Henry had a pretty accurate guess as to what their first jobs were. But, in the back, two people caught his eye. There was the wizard... in a cowboy hat of all things, and..

Before he could discern the picture, he heard footsteps and slammed it shut. He scrambled out of the floor silently and put the boards back in place, his heart pounding as if he were about to get caught doing something illegal.

The door opened slowly, but surely, the cold air flowing through Henry's body as a shadow approached..

* * *

End! Well, sorry for the long wait guys but, the internet has been thoroughly disliking me lately.


	12. Henry set Free, Who's Saralee?

Disclaimer: Continuing the story after a couple years. Let's do this. Oh yeah, and these aren't my characters. D: Woot woot.

* * *

Anna opened the door of her farmhouse, the door creaking open. For a moment she thought she saw something with dragonfly wings, but when she rubbed her eyes, she knew she was mistaken. There was nothing here except for the bloodstained floor where her Pyrenees had passed away. It was all so much to take in. The Wizard had helped her, and she intended to go and find him so she would have an ally that she could trust. But for some reason, she felt herself being pulled here.

Anna walked across the floor, relishing the deep sound it made as she walked across. She went over to her broken bed and sat tenderly on it, sighing. This is where Saralee was sleeping. This building had been broken down when she had come here. She didn't know that the previous owner was a 'reincarnation'. Anna couldn't believe she had been able to sneak out of the church so easily. Gill and Chase had held onto her so tightly she didn't know where she began and another one ended.

Suddenly, there was a rustle. Anna stood up quickly.

"Who's there?" Anna called out into the empty house.

'Okay, you got me.' Henry said into her mind, 'I said I would never leave you. Did you really doubt me?'

"Oh.." Anna said, "Wait... you're not just a voice? You have a body?"

Henry gave a snarky laugh.

"Yes. You just can't see me. Only one can see me, that I know of." Henry replied. Anna sighed and seemed to know instantly.

"Harvest Goddess?" Anna questioned. The memories of the books came back, and Anna tensed slightly. She didn't even think the woman's real name aloud, or what she now knew. She only knew that she had to get the last symbols while still tricking Henry into believing that she was following his command. But, she did not voice this in her mind. Rather, she hid it in her sub-conscious while suddenly thinking of all of her past memories.

While she was doing that, Anna's breath suddenly hitched. The ice cream memory had come back, only this time, things were clearer.

Anna stood looking at the Pandas. She looked back, seeing her mother in line at the ice cream stand. But, there was something there she had not noticed before. There was Henry, serving the ice cream. Anna looked back at the Pandas. Time went by, and she went up to the stand. She looked straight at his face. Anna searched her memories more and more. She knew he wasn't who he said he was, but... who was he?

He had been at her fifth birthday party, as one of the neighbors. He had been sitting in the front row of the bleachers at school graduation. He had been the convenience store clerk when she had received the special flyer for the ranch. But, his eyes, his intent... they seemed different.

Henry watched on, stunned. He had no memory of any of these things. These were her memories, and she was in a lot of them. All of the turning points in her life had been brought on by him. But, how..? He was confused. He knew for a fact that these things must have happened before he came in contact with the Goddess. He had no idea who he was... but he knew that the Goddess hadn't made him. Suddenly, he felt his form start to expand. He felt sick. Henry groaned loudly.

"Who are you?" Anna said, standing up, "The jig is up! You saw all of that in there!"

Henry groaned again. Anna gasped. Henry started to appear, but he was growing now. He was getting a human body back.

"Oh my gosh!" Anna shouted, running over to him. Henry coughed and held his stomach.

"The Goddess must have trapped me and used me as an agent of some kind. She messed with my memories... my mission. Listen. I don't know why I've been leading you all of your life, but I do know what the Goddess is up to."

Anna stood and backed up. The Goddess... was she behind all of this? So, she really could do something. She could make this place freeze once more, and there's nothing Anna could do about it. Or, was there?

"Explain everything." Anna whispered. Henry looked up and then nodded. She deserved as much.

"I can't explain everything," Henry said, "As it turns out, I'm only a pawn. But, here's what I know."

Anna sat back down on her bed, and Henry started pacing the room, wondering where to start. He knew the Goddess was going to come for both of them.

"So, there is no deity on this island that can control the island itself. If there was, they fled long ago. The Harvest God was able to temporarily restore it. At the time, he thought it was permanent. People started to inhabit the island, and he was alright with that. I don't know where the Harvest Goddess comes in, but the Harvest God-"

"Ignis." Anna said, cutting Henry off, "The Harvest Goddess' name is Maria."

"Right, right. Ignis. Maria." Henry continued, "Anyway, Ignis got his panties in a wad and used the elements of the island to seal her away. Then came winter. I don't know how she was able to use me, but she wiped my memories, put in new ones, and sent me to help you get all of the symbols. They're important for something concerning Ignis, but she said that if I led you to the beast after you had all of the symbols, it would destroy you and Ignis forever. I thought I was a bad person who liked bad things, but I've saved you and led you here my entire life. Whatever I needed to do... I plan on finishing it, memories or not."

Anna sat on the bed, and bit her lip.

"So, why do all of the villagers look the same. I saw a little bit, but I'm not convinced I saw everything right."

"Oh!" Henry said, "Right right. They're the same people."

"What!?" Anna questioned, "How old are they!?"

"Centuries." Henry stated.

"Wow..." Anna whispered.

"Here's the deal. Because Ignis sealed the Goddess away using the elements, winter came. The island, knowing that there were inhabitants, seemed to put a spell on everyone. It was an eternal sleep. The Harvest Goddess needed to be released for Winter to end. So, every hundred years or so, Ignis would order the Goddess to wake everyone up. She would whisper their new name into their ear, and they would feel as if they had lived their entire lives as that person. Nobody ages on this island, so they could go for a good ten years. But then came Saralee." Henry paused, "I don't know where she came from, but she was different. She made the island flourish. Maria was jealous. Finally, when Maria knew she had to do something, she hatched a plan. I don't know the plan, or how it works, but she is mean."

Anna sat on the bed, trying to take it all in.

"But, how does Saralee relate to me?" Anna questioned, "Where is Ignis?"

"I suppose only Maria knows," Henry said, "I thought he would have done something by now."

Anna sighed deeply. She knew if she could find him, he could try to help.

"Geez, you're pretty fond of this Ignis guy," Henry said, "If I hadn't known better, I would say you were falling for him."

Anna gasped.

"Wait, say that again!" Anna said quickly.

"If I hadn't known better, I would say you were falling for him." Henry stated, trying to discern what she had wanted from the sentence. Anna jumped up from the bed and started pacing, trying to put the pieces together.

"I've only had one true out of body experience. The others were memories, the actions were being controlled by someone else." Anna bit her lip.

"Oh yeah, when you were getting it on with Ignis." Henry said.

"He must have known," Anna said, "when I pulled back that it wasn't Saralee anymore. Saralee wouldn't have pulled away. I looked up at him with my eyes and he pulled me back."

"Okay, TMI." Henry said, "Get on with it."

"After Saralee found she was pregnant, she convinced Carl to sleep with her. Then she said that the baby was his, and she said she couldn't bear the shame. She left the island." Anna said.

"How do you know?" Henry said, "There's no way you could know all that."

"I know," Anna said, "Because I had my ring on when Ignis pulled me back. He never 'got it on' with Saralee. He got it on with me... her daughter."

"Oh, that's just nasty." Henry said blankly, "The dude had a thing with your mother."

"Look, there's something bigger at work here than that!" Anna shouted, "He didn't know it was me. I saw Saralee in his eyes, but there was no doubt that it was my body."

Henry was silent for a moment.

"So, what does that have to do with anything?" Henry questioned carefully. Anna gave an exasperated sigh and threw her hands up.

"It means that Saralee was much more than we think she was. Listen," Anna explained, "She appeared human. You were in the ice cream memory, and I know it was wiped, but you saw her in line. She disappeared, leaving me behind. Nobody knows where she went. She must have disappeared for a good reason, and you must have not only seen her disappear, but known the reason. We have to get your memory back."

Henry was silent for another moment.

"So... your actual father sees you as a romantic interest, your other serious romantic interest absolutely hates your mother, and you're carrying Ignis' baby."

Anna gasped. Henry sighed.

"What now?" Henry said with a lack of enthusiasm.

"I didn't know I was carrying his baby until you said something. It also means that-"

"Saralee isn't pregnant," Henry said, "And if she doesn't get pregnant, you won't be born. If you aren't born-"

"The Goddess wouldn't have had her power taken away when I rang all of the bells and the people would have been free to worship her to her heart's content."

"But, Saralee must be pregnant with Ignis' baby! Maria told me to wait until the baby was born and then dispatch you so she could be placed into the baby and born again, having the freedom to not be trapped anymore while still retaining her powers.

"Unless she didn't know that Saralee didn't get pregnant with Ignis." Anna said. Henry scratched his head.

"Somebody must know what's going on." Henry exclaimed.

"I know exactly who knows." Anna said.

"Who?"

"Saralee."


End file.
